Product Description
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Two discs containing the following:
Disc 1:
* Two versions of the film:
Original Theatrical
Special Edition w/ The Morning Report
* Disneys Enhanced Home Theater Mix a special 5.1 surround
sound mix created specially for the DVD
* Audio Commentary with Don Hahn, Roger Allers, and Rob Menkoff.
* Grasslands (Zazu)
* Making of The Morning Report: a look behind the scenes of
animating the new sequence and adding it into the feature
* Lion King Personality Profile Game: find out which Lion King
character you share the most in common with
* Tree Of Life (Rafiki)
* "Circle Of Life" Music Video performed by Disney Channels
Circle Of Stars, including Hillary Duff, Raven Simone, Christy
Romano, Orlando Jones, and more.
* Sing-Along Track - sing along to your favorite songs, the words
pop up on screen.
* Disc Two Preview: Get a snap of the contents on disc two,
including the Virtual Safari, and the various journeys.
* Jungle (Timon & Pumbaa)
Timons Grab-A-Grub: Help Timon gather grubs for lunch. The
faster you go the more points you get. Play alone or play against
someone in the two player mode.
Pumbaas Sound Sensations: This animal matching sound game was
created in 5.1 surround sound to showoff your home theater
system.
* Elephant Graveyard (Bonzai)
* Abandoned concepts & deleted scenes; including Bug Football,
Hakuna Matata (Timons Verse) and "Can You Feel The Love
Tonight?" sung by Timon & Pumbaa Disc 2:
* Timon & Pumbaas Virtual Safari: A cross between The Jungle
Cruise and Indiana Jones this is one ride you dont want to miss.
Whether you choose to go by boat or by jeep with 5.1 surround
sound and 15 minutes of all new animation you wont be
disappointed
* Story Journey - Learn where the story of The Lion King came
from.
Story Origins
Timeless Themes
The Script Comes To Life
* Film Journey - Go behind-the-scenes of making the film.
Features Don Hahn, Roger Allers, Rob Menkoff,
Film Origins
Production Research Trip
Art: African Influence
Reflections
* Stage Journey - See how the film became a hit Broadway musical.
Features Tom Schumacher, Peter Schneider and Julie Taymor.
* Musical Origins
Julie Taymor
Screen To Stage
Musical Texture
Setting The Stage
Movement & Performance
s
Leaps Of Fantasy
* Music Journey - Hear the amazing story of how the award winning
music came to be. Features Elton John, Tim Rice, Hans Zimmer, and
Lebo M.
Music Inspiration
Landmark Songwriting
Orchestral Color
Scoring Emotion
African Influence
An Audio Sequel
Full Circle
* Animal Journey - Roy Disney introduces us to Disneys long
standing relationship with animals.
Lions
Meerkats
Warthogs
Hyenas
Disney & Animals
* Non-journey Elements
* Original "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" Music Video w/ Elton
John
* Original "Circle Of Life" Music Video w/ Elton John
* Production Design
* Character Design including Mufasa, Simba, , Rafiki, Timon &
Pumbaa, Zazu, and the Hyenas
* Computer Animation
* Multi-Language Clip Reel
* 16 International sequences
* Storyboard to Film Comparison
* Animal Kingdom
* Animal Kingdom Lodge
* International Release
* DVD Sound Design
* Early Concepts
* Galleries: Character Design, Visual Development, Stage Musical,
Background Layer Assembly, EFX Animation, and more
.co.uk Review
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Disney's 1994 animated feature, The Lion King, was a huge smash
in cinemas and continues to enjoy life in an accled stage
production. The story finds a lion cub, son of a king, sent into
exile after his her is deposed by a jealous uncle. The little
hero finds his way into the "circle of life" with some new
friends and eventually comes back to recl his proper place.
Characters are very strong, vocal performances by the likes of
Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane and Whoopi Goldberg are terrific, the
jokes are ed as much (if not more) at adults than kids, the
animation is sometimes breathtaking and the songs from Tim Rice
and Elton John, accompanied by a colourful score, are more
palatable than in many recent Disney features. --Tom Keogh
On the DVD: The Lion King Special Edition is a superb
restoration: take a look at the serviceable but dull film clips
incorporated in the plethora of extras and compare them to the
vivid gorgeousness of the film presentation. This special edition
also adds a 90-second song ("Morning Report") that originated in
the lavish stage musical. To Disney's credit, the original
theatrical version is also included, both restored and featuring
two 5.1 soundtracks: Dolby Digital and a new Disney Enhanced Home
Theater Mix, which does sound brighter. As with the Disney
Platinum line, everything is thrown into the discs, except an
outsider's voice (the rah-rahs of Disney grow tiresome at times).
The excellent commentary from the directors and producer,
originally on the laser disc, is hidden under the audio set-up
menu.
The second disc is organised by 20-minute-ish "journeys"
tackling the elements of story, music and so on, including good
background on the awkward Shakespearean origins at Disney where
it was referred as "Bamlet". The most interesting journey follows
the landmark stage production, and the kids should be transfixed
by s of the real African wildlife in the animal journey.
Three deleted segments are real curios, including an opening
lyric for "Hakuna Matata". Most set-top DVD games are usually
pretty thin (DVD-ROM is where it's at), but the Safari game is an
exception--the kids should love the roaring animals (in 5.1
Surround, no less). One serious demerit is the needless and
complicated second navigation system that is listed by continent
but just shows the same features reordered. --Doug Thomas